The Centre of your life.

Any serious student, or even reader, of the Bible will be aware that the Centre of that single Book - that is a library of books - is One Person, the Lord Jesus, the Christ (Messiah) of God. What many do not realise is that He may also be the Centre of our lives. How may this be? Simply by believing in Him. John writes: "But these [signs] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name." (John 20:30-31). What does this mean?

First of all it concerns eternal life. There is a common misunderstanding that "eternal life" is "everlasting" life - life that goes on, and on, and on. Greek mythology lets us know how tragic that would be! The story is told of the young Greek "goddess" who fell in love with a mortal, and wanted to be with him forever. So she went to Zeus (head of the Greek pantheon) and asked that he be granted everlasting life. Her wish was granted, and she went off as happy as could be. For many years, all was well, but then the couple realised their mistake. The "goddess" remained youthful, beautiful, and full of vigour. Her mortal partner grew older and older, and more and more frail, but was destined never to die! 

Eternity is not "endless time". It is "timelessness". [I deal more fully with this in my book "Great Words of the Faith"]. You see, time is a created entity, and has both a beginning and end. Eternity is the "dimension" in which the Creator God "resides". And eternal life is, in fact, a totally different life that, in our mortal lives, is beyond our comprehension. What we do know is that is promised to all who have come to the Lord Jesus, in repentance and faith. 

Without the Lord Jesus, we have no hope of heaven. Paul reminds us that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and we are all sinners. We have broken God's moral law, and deserve nothing but His wrath and punishment.

John, commenting on Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, writes: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). Note the tense of the final verb! It's in the present tense. In other words, as soon as we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we receive the very life of Almighty God. That is being "born again". It's not just new life, it's a whole new attitude to life in our physical, mortal bodies. It's not the oftimes artificial, unstable, life that the world offers, but a life full of purpose and peace, and joy.

So Jesus can be the centre of your life, and in your death. I commend Him to you.

Eternal Life.

It was the headline in an advertisement on a French website: "Vivre éternellement est-il possible ?" ("Is eternal life possible?"). The advert appeared to be promoting a herbal mixture that would ensure longevity - at the right price! 

Apparently, two researchers, Sou Sato and Ichika Tanaka, conducted an in-depth investigation in search of an illustrious Chinese herbalist, Li Ching-Yuen, who lived to be 256 years old! A legend that one would have thought completely eccentric, and yet ... the researchers discovered that it was not a legend, that this herbalist really existed, that he lived very, very long and that his longevity had a secret. A secret they've updated. Who does not dream of immortality or, at least, of an almost eternal youth?

I never did manage to find out the price of this amazing product - and I don't really need to, or want to! You see, I already have eternal life. And the eternal life that I am already living is truly eternal! That is because not even my mortal death, at whatever age it occurs, will have any effect on it! 

Let's clarify one thing. "Eternal life" is not "everlasting life" - although it is 'everlasting'! However, eternity is not time. Time had a beginning, and will have an end (that is an established scientific fact!). Eternity has neither! It is not "endless time", but "timelessness". In my first book - Great Words of the Faith* - I have a chapter on the word, and concept. In it I write: "The way in which I most easily think of it is by going back in my memory (which is, of course, time-bound!) to the days when I was ‘courting’ the young girl who eventually became my wife.  As our relationship grew, and we became more serious about spending our lives with one another, we would often sit, in the evening, in the front room of her parental home, discussing our future together – where I might be called to minister (I was already at University studying for that vocation); how many children we might have; whether or not we would have a dog; and her insistence that she was not going to become this character who was “the minister’s wife”, but rather the wife of a man who happened to be a minister!  Suddenly, I would look up at the clock on the wall above the fireplace.  “Look at the time!”, I might exclaim.  “I’d better go before your dad comes in and throws me out!”  What had happened was, that for an all-too-brief interlude, time for us had effectively ceased to exist.  We had been so engrossed in ourselves, and our plans, that we had forgotten about it.  Of course, the clock on the wall had not been so distracted!  And so, when I saw the position of its hands, I was brought sharply back to the reality of my time-bound existence."

Eternal life is, to put it simply, the life of Almighty God, the only self-sufficient Eternal One. But, as God, He may give that life to whomsoever He wills. His written Word, the Bible, makes clear that He gives it to those who respond, positively, to His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus, the Christ - God the Son. It is in Him that eternal life is found. 

Earlier this evening, I was watching a YouTube video on the ancient Galilean town of Capernaum. It was in that town that some of those who had been following the Lord Jesus began to drift away. John records: "Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you also wish to go away?' Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.'" (John 6:67-69).

"You have the words of eternal life." It is found, not in any herbal mixture, but only in the Lord Jesus. John also records that: "... God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). Note the present tense! As soon as I come to Jesus, confessing my sins, repenting of them, and accepting that His sacrificial death at Calvary is the only way by which they may be forgiven, then I receive the gift of God the Holy Spirit in my life, to guide me, and empower me - here and now!

Do you have eternal life? It's available to all who will call on His Name. If you need any personal help, please check out the "Do you need God? " website in "My favourite links" (below). Alternatively, please feel free to contact me using the e-mail address at the top of the page. I only check it a couple of times a week, but I shall get back to you as soon as I can. A third option is to speak with a disciple of Jesus whom you know. Just be sure to do something - you may not have another opportunity!

*All of my books (links above) are available as both paperback and Kindle e-books. All royalties are sent directly to Release International, in support of the persecuted church. Please purchase; leave a review; and encourage others to buy!

Why?

It was the title of a book that was mentioned in a specific Christian web-site, that caught my attention: "If you could ask God one question." Just one?! I suspect that I could spend all of eternity asking one question after another - and eternity is not just "endless time", but "timelessness"!

But if I were to be put "on the spot", and had this amazing opportunity to ask just one question of Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, what would it be? Well, as soon as I started to think about it, I realised that, for me, it wouldn't take much thought! If I could ask God just one question, it would be just one word: "Why?".

Now, it may be that you want to know the rest of the question! After all, "Why?" isn't really a question if it is on its own. Did I mean: "Why did you allow Adam and Eve to introduce sin into Your perfect creation?". Or perhaps it should be more personal: "Why did you allow me to make that decision that, much later, I realised was a wrong decision?" Maybe it should be: "Why did (name a particular relative/friend) die in such pain from an inoperable cancer?"

Well these, and many others, may well be valid questions. However, because God is God and, therefore, omniscient (all-knowing), He would know exactly what I meant when I asked: "Why?". He would know that I was looking at myself, and wondering why He would come, in the Persona (not a typo!) of the Son, and pay the penalty that I deserve(d) to pay for my sins, and sinfulness.

Hymn-writer Isaac Watts phrased the thought like this:

"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?"

It's the mystery of the ages - the holy and sinless One becoming sin (II Cor.5:21) for you and for me!
And, actually, I already know - within my mortal level of comprehension - the answer to my question: "Why?" It's already been revealed in what may well be the best-known words from all of the Biblical writings. John, the beloved disciple, was inspired to write these word: "God loved the world (that's you and me!) so much, that He gave the only-begotten Son (Who came to this earth as the Lord Jesus), that all who place their trust in Him for salvation might not perish but, here and now, have God-quality life" (John 3:16; Ross paraphrase!). 

The celebration of that amazing event, when the Creator entered His creation, is still fresh in most of our minds. Many of us will have received gifts - from the sublime to the silly. I suspect that we will have gratefully received those gifts. However, we had the choice to reject them. To have done so would probably have upset the giver, and maybe even have destroyed a relationship. That would not have been good.

Rejecting the Gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus is MUCH more serious. Your eternal destiny depends, not on your social status; the importance of your job; your financial wealth; the size of your house, or car; or the number of exotic holidays you enjoy each year; but solely, and fully, on your relationship with Almighty God, through Jesus, the Christ.

Did you make any "New Year Resolutions"? If so, have you managed to keep any of them?! It's not too late to make one very important one - to come, in repentance and faith, to the foot of the Cross, and there yield your life to Jesus, receive the forgiveness of Father God, and go into the rest of the year in the power of God the Holy Spirit. Will you do that? Will you? You won't regret it if you do - either in this life, or in the life to come.